How to Write a Good Literary Essay
For English literature students, one of the biggest assignments at college is usually a literary essay. Finding a topic and write an essay is not something beyond average students, but it is usually a bit challenging to produce an attention-grabbing essay.
Since essays carry marks, students make an all-out effort to write a good literary essay and impress their instructor/teacher. Read on to find out where to information that is relevant to the essay you want to write, how to plan and organize your paper, prepare footnotes and write your final draft.
Instructions
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1
Investigate your subject
The first step towards making your literary essay systematic and to the point is to learn how to investigate your subject. A literary essay draws its material from many sources. So you should have a clear understanding on what you are assigned to write or what topic you have chosen. Since there are several sources you can get related information on your essay, do not rely on interpretation of the subject—you should focus on the actual text and draw your own opinion. -
2
Take notes on your reading
Unless you take notes on your reading, you will probably not be able to remember much of the relevant material and will surely not be able to put together a nice piece. Taking your notes carefully is the key to producing an attention-grabbing essay that can get you good marks. Notes can be created by using bullet points as well. -
3
Plan your essay
By working over your notes and thinking about ideas suggested in them you will probably strike on some vague general plan for your paper or essay. But do not commit yourself to the first plan that comes into your head. Your essay should be more than a tissue of facts and quotations from your notes. -
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Familiarize yourself with writing formatting standards
This is one of the important elements in college essays. Try to learn the most commonly used writing and formatting standards, because your teacher may require you to use one of them. MLA and APA are among the most commonly used formatting standards. -
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Things to check in the final draft of your essay
After you have written a literally essay, you should check these very important factors and make corrections if there are any flaws. See if your essay has taken care of these things: Guiding purpose of essay, discussion of the subject at length, well-organized, and grammatically correct, accurate quotations.
